Newmarket’s under 21 footballers created history when they defeated Fermoy in the replayed semi final and thus qualify for the Evening Echo County Under 21 Football Final for the very first time. An impressive all round display ended in a victory of 1-11 to 0-7 at Mallow on Friday evening.

This was Newmarket’s third major semi final at the Mallow venue in thirteen days, a sequence which began with the drawn contest. Newmarket quickly dispelled memories of the agonising Premier Intermediate defeat five days previous when John Lane pointed within a minute. This was quickly followed by points from Kevin O’Sullivan and John Lane as Newmarket raced into a three point lead within five minutes. Fermoy got off the mark in the seventh minute and added a second point within two minutes. Newmarket’s free flowing side regained the impetus and points from John Ryan and Nicky Flanagan established a lead of 0-5 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter. They maintained their advantage and added further to their tally thanks to the dead ball skills of Bart Daly with John Ryan and Kevin O’Sullivan also on target. Fermoy rallied to score the final point of the half but Newmarket enjoyed a sizeable five point lead at the turnover, 0-8 to 0-3.

Fermoy resumed in determined fashion and two points in five minutes reduced the deficit to three points. The critical score of the contest arrived eleven minutes into the half when Newmarket full forward John Scanlon was alert and did well to gather possession in a crowded goalmouth before turning a smashing the ball home to the back of the net. Fermoy did get the next point but a buoyant Newmarket played with style and confidence with points from Nicky Flanagan and T.J. Bodie consolidating their very sizeable advantage. The sides went on to exchange a brace of points with John Lane concluding the scoring stakes from a free and Newmarket went on to record a truly memorable win.

The team now proceed to take on the illustrious St. Finbarrs in the county final.

The Newmarket team was…

Niall O’Connor
Paul Cashman		Brian O’Riordan		Brendan Stack
Conor Cronin		Bart Daly (0-1)		Robert Stack
	Kevin O’Sullivan (0-2)		Timothy Murphy
John Ryan (0-2)		T.J. Bodie (0-1)		Ian Flanagan
Nicky Flanagan (0-2)		John Scanlon (1-0)		John Lane (0-3)
SUB: Anthony Lynch.